Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-04-21

speaks.
His topic of last evening was The
difference between Trade Unions and
Knights of Labor Mr.. Griffith held
and always have believed in strikes, the
Knights of Labor hold to the principle
of settling all grievances in which labor
is interested by arbitration The chief
objects of the order of Knights of Labor.
and those upon which all energies must
be bent, are organization and education
We who may know 3 little more than
others. should teach those who do not
know So much. first their duty to their
fellow men; second. to know their rights,
and knowing them dare to maintain them;
third. when going to the polls to cast
their ballots, to do it Understandings
Among the plsnks in our platform, said
the worthy foreman, or ,;rather the pre-
amble to our constitution. is that we OPP
pose prison contract labor, We hold
that in the State of Illinois, we have
found remedy for convict labor cons
peting with honest labor outside. We
hold that in our state, there are some as
bad rogues as there are in this land, and
should be contined to hard labor as a
punishment for their crime. We do not
oppose prison labor, but there is plenty
of work that these convicts can do with
out bringing them into competition with
the honest workingman who works
for his daily bread. There are about
Joliet some of the best rock beds in this
country. Let these condemned men
work these rock beds, dig it out and
then let honest labor haul it away and
prepare it for use We do not desire. as
some of the farmers think, to keep these
prison birds in idleness, but we are op-
posed to the letting of contracts to the
penitentiary, and giving employment
from which honest labor derives no bene
fit. The convicts Can find abundance of
hard work without giving into the hands
of the state, money that sould 90 into
the pocket of the honest workingman
We are opposed to the wholesale Civ
ing away of the lands of this nation to
syndicates and titled aliens-not another
acre for railroad or speculative purposes
We demand further that all lands held
for speculative purposes be taxed for
their tull value. Our laws cover every
thing needed for the benefit and welfare
of the workingman and honest citizen
Mr.. Griffith said; We are opposed to
everything and anything of communis-
tic nature: We hold no utilization with
anarchists or any organization attempts
ing to destroy the institutions of this
government. | am satisfied that the
workingmen are laboring under great
wrongs, and | am satisfied that their
wrongs can and will be righted, not by
any of the old political parties, but that
labor itself can and will right these
wrongs through the medium of the bal |
lot box
Being general officer Of the order, |
Mr.. Griffith travels great deal, giving |
and encouragement to the |
labor organizations wherever he goes
To an ARGUS reporter who met him st |
the Harper house this morning, Mr.
Griffith said that he found the order in
a flourishing condition everywhere
Where socialists had got in, they would |
be ersdicated When asked as to Mr. |
Powderly's work, he replied:
'PowderlY and | have been associated
together for ten years. and | esteem him
as second to no man in this country for
and honesty of purpose"
In response to question as to the
recently acquired building for the orders
headquarters at Philadelphia, concerning
which so much has been said in the news
papers, Mr.. Griffith said:
The original cost of the grounds and |
all was $4,000. At the the last session |
Of the general assembly at Richmond, |
Va, the want of headquarters some-
where was deeply felt. There was need
of place where we could receive the |
and the capitalists. as
place for our general Offices where work |
ingmen could be at home 1t was de-
cided to appropriate $3.50, 900. with what
the general executive committee was
instructed to make Il purchase. We
bought the property of Mrs Baird who
is friendly to our order, for $45.000 and
she threw in all the house furnishings etc
We thereby not only saved IS. 600 by the
investment, but got the furnishing withthe
exception perhaps of carpets which have
to replace the ones given with the building
andwhich are pretty well worn out Since
our purchase we have been offered SO,
600 on our bargain, but we are not spec
ulating, and will leave it to the next
general assembly of the order at Mime
apolis to determine whether we will keep
the building or not.
General Worthy Foreman Griffith left
for Peoria this afternoon.
When Visiting New York.
Stop at the newly opened and central
ly located Sturtevant house, Broadway